Charles T. Beaird (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Charles Thomas Beaird of Shreveport, Louisiana, was an industrialist, newspaper publisher, philanthropist and civic leader. He was a self-identified "liberal Republican" politician and a champion of civil rights. Born to James Benjamin Beaird and Mattie Connell Fort Beaird, his mother died six weeks after his birth, and his father died when he was sixteen. According to his obituary, Beaird had to grow up quickly but developed a fierce intellectual independence. On February 5, 1943, he was commissioned into the United States Marine Corps in Corpus Christi, Texas. He married Carolyn in Shreveport the next day and reported for duty in Fort Worth, on February, 8. He served first as a pilot instructor and then led a fighting squadron assigned to the recapture and holding of the Philippine Islands flying B-25s and the OS 2U torpedo bomber